Responsibility and Sustainability at the University of St.Gallen (HSG)

Responsibility and sustainability are important pillars in the teaching, executive education and research as well as in the student engagement at HSG. The importance of sustainability is also well recognizable on the HSG campus.

As one of Europe's leading business schools, we integrate responsibility and sustainability into all our activities. In our university’s Guiding Principles, we commit ourselves to contribute to solving the challenges of responsibility and sustainability in the economy and in society.

International networks
In addition to our own guiding principles for responsibility and sustainability, HSG has signed on to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Management Education (UN PRME) in 2010. Our first detailed progress report was published in 2012. Reports are published biannually and serve as HSG’s official Report on Responsibiliy and Sustainability. In addition, HSG is actively engaged in the Globally Responsible Leadership Initiative (GRLI), the Business Schools for Impact Initiative initiated by UNCTAD and the 50+20 – Management Education for the World – Initiative to develop and improve the engagement of business schools in the areas of responsibility and sustainability.

Responsibility and sustainability in teaching and executive education
Through our education we aim at forming entrepreneurial-minded personalities whose actions are informed by social responsibility and sustainability in order to benefit the economy and society. In our mandatory contextual studies, students have to deal with subjects such as gender and diversity management, energy systems, business ethics, social commitment and sustainable business practices. In our master program Business Management (MUG-HSG) students can choose sustainability management as their area of specialization. And through our Executive School and Institutes, HSG offers a wide range of courses and programs addressing responsibility and sustainability challenges. Among others, we offer degree programs in Sustainable Business, Renewable Energy Management and Women Back to Business.

Responsibility and sustainability in researchResearch is one of the core activities of University of St. Gallen, along with teaching and executive education. A wide array of topics in the responsibility and sustainability field are addressed, like Responsible Leadership, Sustainability Management, Management of Renewable Energies, Logistics and Supply Chain Management and Diversity Management. Various Institutes and Centers are active in research and teaching in the responsibility and sustainability field.

Students are committed to sustainability
A strong student commitment to ethics and sustainability has always been a distinctive feature at HSG. With the student initiative oikos, HSG students have provided a forum for discussing sustainable development in economy and society since 1987. Student organizations are engaged in such areas like the provision of responsible and fair fashion, responsible investments and greening the WTO. Responsibility and sustainability topics have attracted a lot of interest among students which reflects in the creation of new student organizations like Student Impact, Social Business Club, IGNITE, Effective Altruism@HSG, SNEEP, P.I.E.C.E.S. and Liter of Light.

Campus sustainability
The value attached to sustainability is also apparent on the HSG campus. From paper disposal to water management and the optimization of campus operations, the HSG administration continually improves the consumption of energy and water and reduces the CO2-emissions. As a result the 2014 and 2015 use of gas and heating have been reduced by 10% each and the electricity consumption by 4% each compared to 2013. Moreover, HSG consumes exclusively green electricity. Other nice examples include the successful introduction of a climate-reduced lifestyle menu at the HSG canteen and the increasing number of tap water fountains.